Apparatus for treating railway and tramway rails



OCt. l 5, 1929. c, J sR s 1,731,857

APPARATUS FOR THEATiNG RAILWAY AND TRAMWAY RAILS Filed Jan. 4. 1928 3 Sheets-Sheet l I I]! I i as v. m

31 w FIG. 2 f fl Oct. 15, 1929. c. J. GRIST 1,731,857

APPARATUS FOR TREATING RAILWAY AND TRAMWAY RAILS Filed Jan. 4. 1928 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 FIG. f m Q 42 v 1 4- \Zks 4s 4-l 45 a foam. VAL; 44

Oct. 15, 1 929. c. J. GRIST 1,731,857

APPARATUS FOR TREATING RAILWAY AND TRAMWAY RAILS Filed Jan. 4, 1928 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 FIGJO. 5

FIGH.

Patented Get. 15, 1929 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CHARLES JAMES GRIST, F BERKSWELL, ENGLAND, ASSIGNOR 0F FOUR-FIFTHS TO CHARLES WILLIAM ST. JOHN ROWLANDSON, OF LONDON, ENGLAND APPARATUS FOR TREATING RAILWAY AND TRAMWAY RAILS Application filed January 4, 1928, Serial No. 244,474, and in Great Britain January 7, 1927.

This invention relates to apparatus by means of which railway and tramway rails, made of steel or steel alloys can be subjected to a treatment which augments their resistance, to the stresses they have to withstand, lengthens their life, and increased their utility for work.

The invention relates solely to the apparatus hereinafter described. Such appara- 0 tus can be employed for utilizing the motive powers of heat and electricity beneficially upon steel rails. The temperature to which anymake of steel rails shall be raised, the medium such as air or other gaseous substance surrounding the rails and filling the furnace chamber while being treated, the strength of the electric current and the duration of time it is applied, must necessarily be varied according to the chemical contents of the steel of which the rails are composed and their history, and is determined by experiment.

According to the invention the apparatus for the purpose set forth comprises a furnace having an internal lining of iron or steel, means for supporting rails in the chamber formed by said lining in such a way that the said rails are insulated from each other and from the said lining, means for subjecting the rails to any desired temperature, and means for subjecting the rails to the action of an electric current whilst within the said furnace chamber. Conveniently the rails are placed in tiers in the furnace chamber resting upon metal supports from which they are suitably insulated. The furnace has at each end a door having attached thereto an inner batl'le door, and the end doors carry for each rail a swinging lever having a contact member adapted to make electrical contact with a rail supported within the furnace chamber.

ig. 1 of the accompanying illustrative drawings is a view partly in central longitudinal vertical section and partly in side elevation illustrating a construction of furnace according to the invention.

Figs. 2 and 3 illustrate the furnace in sectional plan and vertical cross section respectively.

Figs. 4 and 5 show to a larger scale, in sectional end view and plan, respectively, parts of the means arranged within the furnace chamber for supporting railway rails when under treatment.

Fig. 6 is a section corresponding to the line AA of Fig. 5.

Figs. 7, 8 and 9 illustrate an automatically adjustable swinging contact device for supplying electric current to a rail arranged in the furnace chamber, Figs. 7 and 8 being respectively a sectional elevation and a plan of the device, and Fig. 9 an end view.

Fig. 10 is a longitudinal vertical section and Fig. 11 a longitudinal horizontal section, illustrating a modified arrangement of supporting device located within a furnace chamber for supporting tramway rails.

Fig. 12 is a vertical transverse section corresponding to the line BB of Fig. 10, and

Fig. 13 is a sectional elevation to a larger scale showing a pair of the supporting rollers and a tramway rail in section resting thereon.

Referring to Figs. 1, 2 and 3, which illustrate apparatus for treating railway rails, the furnace chamber 31 is constructed of firebrick or other suitable material and is furnished with an internal lining 32 made of iron or steel. Surrounding the furnace chamber is a muffle wall 33 also made of firebrick or other suitable material and formed with damper openings 35 arranged at suitable intervals along the length of the furnace in two rows located one near the top of the furnace cl1am her and the other at a lower level. By means of these damper openings the hot air and gases may be controlled and the temperature throughout the length of the furnace may be maintained uniform as far as possible. The said hot air and gases proceed from a gas producer or any other suitable source and are delivered to the space surrounding the furnace chamber through a bottom conduit 36 extending throughout the length of the furnace. The shape of the furnace illustrated in cross-section in Fig. 3 has been found suitable for the desired purpose but the invention is not restricted to this particular shape, or indeed to any other shape, as variations may be made as found desirable or necessary in practice. The furnace illustrated is capable of taking a relatively large number, for example about 50, standard size bull-headed railway rails, but the furnace may be constructed of any desired area and length to suit the rails to be treated.

The hot air and gases circulating around the furnace have an outlet, not shown, 0011- veniently arranged at the top of the mufi'le, although the outlet may be in any other position if so desired. 7

At each end of the furnace chamber is provided with a door 37 that is made of iron or steel and each said door has fixed to it as shown a baflie inner door or plate 37 When in position closing the ends of the furnace chamber the said doors are held in their closed positions by suitable bolts and wing nuts 38. The bolts are hinged to lugs fixed to the steel lining 32 of the furnace and they pass through slots formed therefor in projecting lugs fixed to the doors. For the purpose of enabling an air-tight joint to be made the said doors and the ends of the steel lining may be formed with male and female engaging parts which may have asbestos or other packing.

The double door construction at each end of the furnace can be withdrawn from the furnace as a whole and swung clear of the ends of the furnace as by means of a small crane placed on the top of the muflie furnace or by means of any other suitable mechanism notshown in the drawings. To facilitate sliding the double doors away from the furnace preparatory to lifting them clear thereof the said doors may conveniently be fitted with rollers 39 and 39 arranged to run on brackets 40 and 40. The doors 37 and 37 of the furnace chamber are maintained in their relative positions by means of bolts and nuts, distance pieces and diagonal tie-rods as shown in Fig. 1.

The rails under treatment are conveniently supported in tiers within the furnace chamber and for this purpose a number of supporting rollers on which the rails can run are mounted on an appropriate structure fitted within the furnace chamber. As shown in Figs. 4, 5 and 6 the supporting rollers tl are each fitted on a short spindle 42 that is mounted in supporting blocks d3 carried by a structure comprising metal bars 44f fixed in the furnace chamber. In order to insulate the said roller supports from each other and from the supporting structure there is interposed between the spindles 42 and the blocks 43 that support the same electrical insulating material 45. It is to be noted that the rollers supporting the rails under treatment are so spaced apart as to ensure the rails under treatment being out of contact with each other and out of'contact with any part of the supporting structure or lining of the furnace chamber. As will be seen from the drawings the structure supporting the rollers 41 is built up of steel or iron members and is a structure that is fitted as a complete whole into the furnace chamber in which it is appropriately secured in any desired manner. The supporting rollers are arranged in rows located at appropriate intervals along the length'of the furnace so that the rails under treatment are adequately supported throughout their entire length.

To enable the temperature within the furnace to be ascertained at difierent points there will be provided steel tubes, notshown, located at any desired intervals throughout the length of the furnace and extending through the wall of the furnace into the furnace chamber in which tubes thermic couples are located having their cold junctions outside the furnace connectedto galvanometers for the purpose of ascertaining the temperature at difierent portions of the furnace at any desired time. The indications recorded by the galvanometers assist the operator in maintaining a temperature as uniform as possible throughout the furnace at any one given time by suitable control of the beforementioned damper openings 45.

Figs. 7, 8 and 9 illustrate a construction of contact devices whereby electric currents can be applied to the rails within the furnace chamber. One of said contact devices is connected to each of the end baffle doors 37 for each of the rails under treatment. The con tact devices each consist of a bar 47 havinga screwed stem that is passed through a suitable insulated hole formed therefor in the baffle door 37. The said bar is held in place by a nut 48 on the said stem whichis screwed up in order to grip the balfle'door between a flange 49 on the bar 47 and a washer 50, washers 51 of electrical insulating material being interposed as shown. The inner end of the bar 47 projects into the furnace chamber and near its free end it is formed with a slot 52 through which is passed the shank of a contact carrier 53. The end of said shank above the bar 47 is fitted with a round pin 54 which rests upon the top of the bar 47 and forms a fulcrum about which the contact carrier can rock. The hole in the carrier bracket is chamfered on the front and back faces to allow free swinging movement only in the direction of the doors. The pendulum is free to swing backwards when coming into contact with the rails and to rise vertically when they door or rail is withdrawn. At its lower end the contactcarrier has fixed to it a con tact brush 55 or other suitable means of electric contact. Electric currentis supplied to the contact carrier and therefore to the said brush andthrough that to the rail upon which the brush is adapted to bear, by means of an insulated flexible conductor 56 fixed at one end to a terminal 57 secured to the contact carrier 53, the said insulated conductor being led through an axial boring 58 formed in the bar 4'? and thence to a switch-board located at the exterior of the furnace in any suitable position. The switch-board is so constructed that the electric current can be applied to any individual rail in the furnace chamber or to any particular group of said rails or to all the rails simultaneously as desired.

As will be seen the arrangement for supporting railway rails comprises rollers 41 as hereinbefore described on which the webs of the rails rest, but in the case of tramway rails the arrangement shown in Figs. 10 to 13 is adopted. In this arrangement the flanges 59 of the bases of the tramway rails rest upon pairs of rollers 60 carried in an electrically insulated manner by bearers 61 extending longitudinally of the furnace chamber. Fixed to the longitudinal supports 61 are steel or iron guide plates 62 resting on electrical insulating material. The longitudinal supports 61 are secured to vertical supports 63 fixed at intervals throughout the length of the furnace chamber. The supporting structure comprising the longitudinal rails 61 and the vertical members 63 can, as shown, be erected in the furnace chamber or can be constructed as a separate structure which can be put together outside the furnace and pushed into the furnace chamber and suitably secured in place therein.

Conveniently, to facilitate placing the rails within the furnace chamber, a suitable elevator of any desired construction can be provided in such position adjacent to either or both ends of the furnace, comprising a rising and falling table or platform having rollers on which the rails can be supported. The elevator can be operated electrically or hydraulically the arrangement being such that the rails resting upon the rollers on the said table can be raised to the desired level in order that they can be simply pushed off the rollers of the table or platform on to the supporting rollers within the furnace chamher.

In details of construction of the furnace proper, the means for supporting rails therein, and the means for applying an electric cu "rent to the rails, variations may be made without departure from the invention.

\Vhat I claim is 1. For the treatment of rails made of steel or steel alloys for the purpose set forth, a furnace having an internal lining of iron or steel, means for supporting rails in the chamber formed by'said lining in such a way that the said rails are insulated from each other and from the said lining, means for subjecting the rails to any desired temperature, and means for subjecting the said rails to the action of an electric current whilst within the said furnace chamber.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the rails are placed in tiers in the furnace chamber resting upon metal supports from which they are suitably insulated.

3. A furnace according to claim 1 having at each end a door having attached thereto an inner baffle door.

4. A furnace according to claim 1, having at each end a. door which carries for each rail a swinging lever having a contact member adapted to make electrical contact with a rail supported within the furnace chamber.

5. Apparatus for treating railway and the like rails comprising a furnace chamber having a metal lining, means for heating said furnace chamber, muflie walls surrounding said chamber and formed with rows of openings located one row near the top of the furnace chamber and one row near the bottom thereof, means for controlling said openings in order to regulate the temperature of the said furnace chamber, a door at each end of said furnace chamber said door carrying a bafiie inner door, means for making tight joints between said doors and the ends of said furnace chamber, a supporting structure within said furnace chamber, rollers carried by said structure in vertical rows adapted to support rails inserted within said furnace chamber, means for electrically insulating said rollers from each other and from said supporting structure, and contact devices carried by said doors adapted to make electrical contact with the respective ends of rails carried on said rollers within said furnace chamber.

6. Apparatus for treating metal articles, comprising a furnace air chamber, insulating supports for the articles arranged in the furnace air chamber. means for applying an electric current to the insulated articles, mufile walls surrounding the furnace air chamber and having a series of spaces for heated gases extending longitudinally of and around the said chamber, and means for passing heated gases through the series of spaces to heat all parts of the furnace air chamber uniformly.

In testimony whereof I atfiX my si nature.

CHARLES JAMES efiisr. 

